When I grow up, I want to be a retronaut; Chris Wild already is and he is generously sharing his portal with the world. Mr. Wild’s intriguing website (and it is intriguing) is a place in time dancing with whimsy. How to be a Retronaut is a website where you can scroll and click with wild abandon and pure wonder, “If the past is a foreign country, this is your passport.”

A retronaut is someone who travels through time using just perception. How to be a Retronaut is a charismatic playground within a timeline that invites you to be a retronaut. The appeal of the website is in variety and unexpected entertainment. Where else can you find Eiffel Tower blueprints, a blooper reel from the 1930s, and a 5000 year old piece of chewing gum?! There are roots to modern chromatics, like this Crayola color chart graphically depicting the evolution from 8 crayon colors to 120 colors in 97 years (image above). For a dash of Parisian history, devour the details of this flat (who doesn’t want this ostrich?!).

I love the nostalgic photographs hidden throughout the website. These images of a Brooklyn gang in 1959 are completely captivating.

These Parisian glimpses (in color!) are from the WWII era.

And let’s not forget the birth of Twitter (70 years earlier than you think).

Now click over and explore!

(All images from How to be a Retronaut.)

In the 1950s, Airstream trailers were the pinnacle of luxurious travel: roomy, comfortable and futuristic, resembling nothing more than a Jetsons-like flying vehicle ready to take to the skies. Today, Airstream aficionados drool over the rounded aluminum bodies and mid-century modern interiors. While many still function as campers, others have been transformed into homes, studios, traveling boutiques and even bowling alleys. These 10 Airstreams and other tiny mobile dwellings prove that small can be stylish and surprisingly multi-functional.

Kristina Spaulding’s Dreamy Curves

Can this Airstream get any dreamier? Pale birch, linen and chrome adorn the curvilinear interior of Kristina Spaulding’s 1967 Tradewind. Spaulding wanted the inside to have the same feel as the iconic exterior, cutting many of the curved shapes herself with a jigsaw. The postcard-covered kitchen counter is a nod to the many journeys Spaulding has made in her traveling home.

Masculine Wood MObi

Modern minimalists who still crave organic textures will love MObi, a restored Airstream with lots of wood and white. Packed with a surprisingly large kitchen, a sleek bathroom and a flat screen television with surround sound, this more masculine version of the tricked-out classic camper has all the necessities and more.

Tiny Modern Airstream Abode

Imagine waking up every day in a bright and cozy Airstream trailer that serves as your home, and then heading to work – in the converted cargo trailer that’s towed behind your truck. That’s reality for architect Andreas Stavropoulos, who has converted both from run-of-the-mill prefab boxes into comfortable, livable spaces.

Sarah’s Airstream Studio

Of course, Airstreams aren’t just for livin’ on the road. They make ridiculously adorable work studios, as proven by this extreme makeover by crafter Sarah of 26 Letters. Sarah’s eye for design is obvious, with carefully chosen modern furniture and accessories and pops of color against a bright white ‘canvas’.

Airstream, or Bowling Alley?

Of all the wacky things you might come across in Vegas, would you ever expect a bowling alley in an Airstream? The trailer – located at the Silverton Casino – seems to have been widened to accommodate two lanes of fun.

Adelante Boutique’s Airstream ‘Curb Service’

Austin, Texas boutique Adelante has repurposed an Airstream into the chicest little mobile boutique you ever saw. The customized 1976 model will roll up to any curb for private parties including bridal showers, with partygoers sipping on “streamtinis” while perusing racks of clothing, shoes and accessories.

Eye-Popping Airstreams at Grand Daddy Hotel

Need someplace to stay while traveling in South Africa? It would be hard to find a more unique experience than the curious gaggle of rentable Airstreams at the Grand Daddy Hotel. This one, designed by Sarah Pratt, was inspired by the blue dress of a certain heroine in The Wizard of Oz.

Contemporary Prairie Schooner

A young couple named Libby Reinish and Tristan Chambers made this ‘contemporary prairie schooner’ in a span of just a few months and now live in it while traveling cross-country. Inspired by gypsy wagons, this tiny portable home packs in plenty of creature comforts, but perhaps none quite as unexpected as the little caged lookout for their cat.

Woodie Love Bug Custom Trailer

The small and shiny ‘Woodie Love Bug’ is like a homemade cross between an Airstream and a teardrop trailer. Custom-made by Dayton Taylor and Vintage Trailer Crazy, these trailers are 12-feet-long fully customizable mobile homes crafted from oak, birch and metal.

Protostoga: 21st Century Wagon

Another project taking a cue from the shiny metal of Airstream exteriors is the ‘Protostoga‘, built as an extension for the owners’ more traditional-looking – but still highly unusual – tiny house. “It will function as a flex space,” creator Ann Holley told Tiny House Blog. “It can be a guesthouse, vacation cottage, dining room, mobile studio, escape pod, reading room and much more.”

Main image: Grand Daddy Hotel

In light of the recent survey finding many of us secure a better night’s sleep in separate cocoons, it might pay to return to the days of twins. You know, lie back and watch a show, roll over for fun, head home to your crib for a snooze so you can get up for work. Just like dating!

Think of the fun of sneaking into the resting chamber of your better half for a “hello stranger” kinda session, while saving all kinds of bucks on the bedding ’cause twin sets are so much cheaper than kings.

Many hotels in Europe feature twins with headboards pushed together to form one chic unit, dressing them in matching finery. I’ve slept best in a twin since summer camp and think in some ways, we were meant to have a compact cot with a narrow margin to feel safe and secure as we garner our much needed zzz’s.

So what are the most stylish ways to produce twins in your own home? Probably the best source for a cool pair is vintage. If you’re more contemporary, you can always customize upholstered headboards or beds with eco fabrics. But that’s another story!

Subtle Vintage Pairings

ebay is undoubtedly the wealthiest source for matching twins, such as these woven Scandinavian beauties from Antique Bedrooms with tapered, capped legs. $1500.

I’m a total sucker for caned furniture, and in fact picked up a set of beds for my daughters at auction when they were small. These precious French guys were harvested by French Finds.

Man, you could have fun with these circa 1970s rattan vintage twin headboards with a decorative diamond insert. Order good green mattresses on frames sans the chemicals and geometric organic bedding. From Objects in the Loft at 1st Dibs.

Pair of curvaceous, French Oak Louis twins, $990 at Abba Antiques.

Main Image: Posh Living

Image one: Rhymehatcher

Image Two: Coco+Kelley

My partner in Sixties vintage couture crime, artist Joan Davis, called me the other day and said I had to check out Torso Vintages, an ultra cool used couture outlet in San Francisco’s Union Square.

In town just a few days to pedal her flower-powered paintings, Joan had immediately sensed where to dig up archaeological relics of Pucci and Gucci – the way my pug can sniff a German Shepherd or hamburger a mile away.

I jotted down the name to this source for  shifts and clutches. Sure, there are ample consignment shops around in  chic towns like ours, but few sell what connoisseurs consider three dimensional art, i.e. something Jacky O. or Lily Pulitzer would have worn to lunch at Harry’s Bar with the girls. You have to weed through lots of synthetic yardage and depleted, tired boas to find the real gems.

As it turns out, the source she told me about is among the vendors strutting their fabulous stuff on the hottest new online boutique for the real McCoys of vintage fashion style.

Yes, hopeless fashion romantics such as Joan and I are the types 1st Dibs is banking on to do for Geoffrey Beene A-line cloaks and YSL Jockey Hats (above)  what the Web site did for haute  furnishings: Gather the best offerings from dealers around the world to sell for a range of prices.

That range at 1st Dibs cuts a wide swath:

From the doable after a glass of wine with lunch: Whimsical Pierre Cardin sunglasses from the 1960s. $250.

To the the pretty pricey: 1960s Pucci shift, $400, and Ungaro dress, $650.

To the investment statement: M. Haskell 1940′s Multicolored Fringed Bib Necklace USA, 1940′s. $3,250.

To a taste of  Samantha Jones at Versailles: Hermes Birkin of Matte Black Porosus Crocodile. $65,000.

John Hadeed, owner of Torso Vintages, finds 1st Dibs is helping to put him and others in his stylish field on the map in a big way.

“We’ve had calls and emails from all over the country and the world,” the collector told SF Gate.  “We’re dealing with people who really love clothes.”

Michael Bruno, the clever founder of 1st Dibs, hired vintage couture expert Clair Watson (above) to supervise the fashion site and locate the first dealers. They include seasoned second-hand harvesters with a penchant for Hermes, such as Createurs de Luxe, and the owner of the Way We Wore in Los Angeles, a dealer named Doris Watson who is offering her most precious and rare works of art to the website.

The good news is vintage is on a roll because of the recession and our renewed appreciation for classics over buying new junk made abroad.

Check out the site and see if there is anything you can afford (that’s bigger than a size 2 or 4) to add to your wardrobe. All you do is click on the era that suits you (from Deco to Contemporary).

What’s the best deal you can score on the site? Perhaps an undesirable Chado Ralph Rucci evening bag for $175. This is not the place to pluck the deal of the century.

Main Image: 1st Dibs

Image two: Vintage Shopping Guide

When fashion designers go residential, their sense of color and texture don’t always feel quite at home. Especially when it comes to bedding, it can feel – well, a bit sleepy. Not so with never neutral Trina Turk, whose punchy patterns enter a room with the sock-it-to-me frivolity of Joanne Whirley – euphoric, mod, and unabashedly uncorked with personality.

In fact, the shag carpet appeal of the Laugh-In era has come alive in Palm Springs, the new Mid-Century mecca where Trina Turk Residential has opened right next door to her apparel boutique on Palm Canyon Drive. Turk and her husband, photographer Jonathan Skow, own a home in the desert. Along with retrophiles like Jonathan Adler, they are doing their part to restore the resort to its early 60s glamor of Avanti cars, Sinatra and Hope soirées, and low-slung homes.

Turk’s vivid peacock and floral prints fit in the scene like a worn-in golf glove. The best part is that she locates old pieces – mostly vintage patio furniture – that she restores and upholsters in her own florals and geometrics, infusing old goodies with contemporary spark. It’s oh so greener than throwing them out to pasture.

I spoke with the highly successful designer about her vision for home:

Luanne: Why residential?

Trina: We always did color and prints in our apparel line and it seemed like a logical progression. Most of the prints we do are graphic and bold so they lend themselves to larger expanses of fabric. Over the years, we used my prints in my old home and realized the apparel fabrications are not appropriate for upholstery use (laughs). What we wanted was to find someone who could do true indoor-outdoor fabrics that could withstand the sun, getting wet, kids and dogs. That’s how we paired up with F. Schumacher. We did nine patterns and eight of them are ones we have use in the past on apparel.

Luanne: The Schumacher fabrics are stunning but not organic. Have you thought about going in that direction?

Trina: As a brand, we have credibility in the arena of printed fabrics. Anything that can be done makes sense for us. I don’t see us every doing eco furniture and hard items, but with textiles, we could cross over.

Gallery of featured Trina Turk products

Pisces Print

Peacock Print

Super Paradise Print

Luanne: I realize it can be challenging. Many of those toxic chemicals are what coat the fabric to make it last.

Trina: The textile industry is a very polluting industry, so at this point, it is really about making baby steps in the right direction. With our customers, the sad thing is if a jean is organic or non-organic, they will buy the one that makes them look better, the one most flattering to them. If the less flattering one is organic, their organic concerns are overruled by what they look good in. As the textile industry continues to develop fabrications that are eco-friendly and also fashionable – that whole thing will move forward and there won’t be a difference.

Luanne: How do you scout for the furniture in your collection?

Trina: All the furniture in our own home is vintage. We opened a residential store here figuring that in Palm Springs, it’s easy to find vintage patio furniture. Stylistically, it’s more interesting to me than new patio furniture. It’s easy to find vintage Brown Jordan but most of it has webbing, making it hard to upholster. We have located upholstered pieces not by famous designers, except for one set by Bob Alexander, who you might know if you are a decorator or collector. We get a lot of metal pieces and have them painted with a shiny enamel paint finish that is very durable and comes in great colors. It looks like new once the upholstery is on the cushions and should endure outdoors.

Luanne: The desert sun can be grueling. I remember when I was growing up and we owned a home in P.S. We’d store the cushions indoors.

Trina: That’s what got this whole thing going..this idea of we want fabric by the pool but the 100% cotton canvas in the apparel line really fades. The P.S. sun is so strong it fades in one day. The Schumacher fabrics go through a wear test equivalent to sitting up and down 15,000 times (we both laugh). They really test it out that way!

Luanne: They could have just had my kids come over. They’re hyper-active. Who is your decor clientele – who’s interested in procuring the vintage pieces you’re refurbishing?

Trina: Mostly, there are the people who live here who have bought and restored Mid-Century homes. Then, there are the architectural tourists who come to look at the homes. This time of year, there is a new crop every weekend because of all the local events. The Palm Springs Modernism Show just happened.

Luanne: Were you involved? Did it get around that you have the new home store?

Trina: Yes, we did a thing called the Trina Turk Guide to Palm Springs, an extended postcard listing all of the Mid-century shops.

Luanne: It seems you are branching out beyond Palm Springs, opening a new store in Burlingame, Calif. and other cities.

Trina: In Burlingame, we will sell mostly apparel but also carry some items from our home collection, pillows and home accessory items like scented candles. We see a lot of possibilities for things we can do in that area. The prints could be applied to wallpaper, rugs, many different things.

Photos: courtesy John Ellis